METHODOLOGY Longitudinal, Participatory Research with Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa Briefing Paper 2 · March 2014
KEY POINTS
To understand street children and youth’s capabilities on the street a longitudinal approach is required.
Street children and youth are the experts on their own lives and therefore research about their lives must be participatory.
Participatory research also provides young people with a sense of ownership of the research and an opportunity to develop their own responses to the findings and outcomes.
There are significant practical and ethical challenges that need to be carefully considered when engaging street children and youth in research.
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE The global approach to the ‘problem’ of street children and youth ignores the significant proportion of children that never leave the street – the street is their home, their society and source of income. Young people on the street are characterised as ‘out of place’ (Connolly and Ennew, 1996) to be ‘returned’ to family or other
harnessed to their advantage. Those young people whose life trajectories mean that they remain on the streets deserve to be supported appropriately. This research explores street children and youth’s capabilities as they grow up on the streets and seeks to engage their voices directly in order that we understand how they might be better supported.
environments of adult supervision. This creates a
RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS
problematic view of children as a hazard or vulnerable
The aim of the research is to understand street children
‘on’ the street but safe ‘off’ the street – a perspective
and youth’s capabilities on the street and to seek better
that, even after much academic criticism, still persists
ways of supporting them to have adult lives that they
and shapes policy on young people in African cities.
have reason to value. To do this a series of research
Further, this perspective creates a barrier for young
questions have been developed that specifically explore
people on the streets to access and exercise their full set
this issue in more detail:
of rights (OHCHR, 2012; van Blerk, 2014). In reality,
1.
street children and youth’s lives are highly complex. Their relationships with family, home and place suggest major fault-lines in current policy and approaches where it is not always appropriate to reintegrate young people into difficult family or community settings (van Blerk, 2012). Many young street dwellers continue to have a relationship with the street as adults, the street and informal settlements being part of their experience of urban life. While loaded with negative social meaning, the street and informal settlements of African cities have an important function to play in the lives of many living in poverty that can be extremely positive and should be
How do street children in three diverse African cities (Accra, Bukavu and Harare) employ capabilities both in their daily and future lives?
2.
In what ways do street children face difficulties as they grow up on the streets? How might they be
Ten Capability Drawings
better supported? 3.
What are the changes in policy and practice that
1. I have enough time to play
are required for a better understanding of street children’s needs?
METHODOLOGY The research draws on a refinement of Sen’s (1999) and Nassbaum’s (2000) capability approach framework and
2. I am able to move freely and be safe in my local area.
applies this to street life. The rationale here is that rather than focus on the vulnerabilities of young people on the 3. I am able to realise my plans for the future.
streets we must explore their capabilities in order to learn more about their lives and how to support them more appropriately. Ten capability statements were developed through pilot research with street children and youth in Accra (see Briefing Paper 1 and Shand, 2014) and subsequently developed into clear statements accompanied by images. These were collated into
4. I am able to behave in ways that protect my health and wellbeing
booklets for use in the research (see right). The capabilities are issues that the young people raised as pertinent to their ability to have flourishing lives on the
5. I am resilient in the face of problems that effect me
streets and form the framework for collecting and analysing data.
COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA The collection of primary data follows a participatory street researcher philosophy whereby the research team work with street workers and street youth in each
6. I am able to earn enough money to meet my basic needs
country to undertake their own ethnographic research (see Blazek, 2011; van Blerk, 2013). Six research 7. I frequently receive the support of friends
assistants (RAs), currently living on the streets, were selected in each country. The process of selection was participatory beginning with open information sessions on the research followed by a period of intense training. Some chose not to continue while others were unable to fully complete the training due to ongoing commitments. A second ethnographic training workshop
8. Through work I can build assets for the future
then took place with the remaining young people in each country prior to finally being involved in the project. These workshops equipped them with research skills based on the core principles of observation,
9. I usually have enough to eat
questioning, listening. Due to relatively low levels of formal education among street children and youth in each of the three cities, a verbal approach was adopted to capture the views and experiences of participants. The researchers engage in
10. I have access to shelter
weekly informal interviews with a project manager, who
the group in participatory dialogue. Others were invited
was also trained in ethnographic questioning and
to join the network, baseline and focus groups.
listening skills. Through these interviews a street
What are the benefits?
ethnography is captured, focusing on capabilities and
Participation recognises the unique knowledge and
following a network of 10 young people per researcher.
access that young people have to the places and
This process is triangulated with focus groups allowing
communities of streets and informal settlements in each
the inclusion of the voices of a larger number of street
of the three cities. By enabling young people to lead and
children and youth on specific capability themes. In
direct the process, with support both from the strategic
addition, a baseline survey of all young people taking
team and their local project managers, we gain access to
part in the project was conducted at the start and is
their lives through their eyes and interpretation. From
repeated every year for the three year data collection
their perspective, training in new skills, a contribution to
period (with a fourth survey post-data collection),
living expenses, and an opportunity to feed into
enabling longitudinal data to be systematically collected
research that seeks to inform and change policy locally
and triangulated against the ethnographic interviews. In
and internationally, all add up to a strong commitment
total 66 young people in each of the three cities will
to the process.
participate in the project over a three year period, a
DATA ANALYSIS
total of 198 young participants.
PARTICIPATION
The analysis of raw data from ethnographic interviews,
The high level of participation in this project is
of the research design. A robust and comprehensive
innovative for work with street children and youth and it
process of coding qualitative data has been set up using
is important to draw out some further key
the qualitative data analysis package NVivo. Weekly
considerations and the approach used for Growing up
on the Streets.
focus groups and baseline surveys is an important part
interviews and focus groups are recorded, transcribed and translated confidentially in each country. Files are
Why do we engage street children and youth in
then sent to the University of Dundee, uploaded to
research?
NVivo and descriptively coded for capabilities,
Following theoretical ideas that young people, although
individuals and other emerging themes. The second
constrained by societal structures, are active agents shaping their own lives, and taking a rights-based approach, we ascertain that street children and youth not only have the right to be involved in decisions that affect their lives but that they should be leading and directing their futures. Therefore the project is
stage of this process will be further analytic coding linking the findings to theory and triangulating across methods. The NVivo package helpfully also allows the researchers to examine themes in depth; to explore across countries; and to follow individual young people over the three year data collection process. All data is
constructed around the participation of young people
anonymised before any findings are released.
who are both investigators and informants in the
ETHICS
research, working with researchers to determine the most appropriate outcomes.
How do we engage street children and youth in
The research has a strong commitment to undertaking socially just and ethical research. The project developed an ethical framework based on international guidelines
research?
for working with young people and the extensive
We followed an extensive process of informed consent
experience of the research team (see Young and Barrett,
and training. Project managers discussed the research
2001). The framework is signed and adhered to by all
with young people in open sessions and invited those
involved in the project from director to project manager,
who were interested with good communication skills to
researcher, transcriber and participant. The framework
participate in training. Good performance in the training
considers, and sets standards, of the following
resulted in advanced training and an invitation to
principles: privacy and confidentiality; anonymity;
become a researcher. The process was negotiated with
benefits and costs; harm or impact on young people;
informed consent; ownership; selection and inclusion; funding; information sharing; ending the project; and dissemination. Full ethical approval was also gained from the University of Dundee Research Ethics Committee.
SOME CHALLENGES The innovative and participatory nature of the research is ground-breaking by involving street youth as researchers, yet it creates a number of significant practical and ethical challenges that affects the stability of the project. Some examples include:
Mobility
Connolly, M. & Ennew, J. (1996) ‘Introduction: children out of place’. Childhood, special issue on street children. 3(2): 131-145. Growing Up on the Streets. (2014) Briefing Paper 1: Research Principles—Conceptual Framework. January 2014. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (2012) Protecting and
Promoting the Rights of Children Working and/or Living on the Streets. Geneva: United Nations. Nussbaum, M.C. (2000) Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Participants may move around and away from the city. Keeping track is a challenge and an important evidential outcome from the research.
Changes in social relationships As young people grow up they will form new relationships, affecting the social groups that they are observing. Monitoring these changes are important for understanding life on the street but may create discontinuities in data collection.
Confidentiality Participants provide information into the research that could place them and others at risk. Maintaining confidentiality among research participants and through effective data management is a challenge.
Environmental and political change Young people on the street are highly vulnerable to rapid changes in their environment from ‘clearance’ policies of city councils through to the impact of civil conflict. These affect both the safety of young participants and also the viability of the research.
Shand, W. (2014) ‘Growing up on the streets — understanding the lives of street children and youth in Africa’. In: The Capability Approach: From Theory to Practice. Tiwari, M. and Ibrahim, S. (eds). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. van Blerk, L. (2014) ‘Street-connected children in Africa: rights and participation’. In: Children’s Lives in an Era of Children’s Rights. Twum-Danso Imoh, A and Ansell, N (eds). London: Routledge. Van Blerk, L. (2013) ‘New street geographies: the impact of urban governance on the mobilities of Cape Town street youth’. Urban Studies, special issue on urban youth mobilities. 50(3): 556-573. van Blerk, L. (2012) ‘Berg-en-see street boys: merging street and family relationships in Cape Town, South Africa’. Children’s Geographies: special issue on family relationships. 10(3): 321-335. Young, L. and Barrett, H. (2001) ‘Ethics and participation: reflections on research with street children’. Ethics, Place and Environment. 4(2):130-134.
REFERENCES Blazek, M. (2011) Children’s Everyday Practices and Place (unpublished PhD thesis). Dundee: University of Dundee.
For further information on the research plus Briefing Papers using the words of street children and youth themselves: www.streetinvest.org/guots · guots@dundee.ac.uk · guots@streetinvest.org Research Directors: Professor Lorraine van Blerk, Dr Wayne Shand, Patrick Shanahan StreetInvest: a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales: Company No. 6745235 Charity No. 1127206